Strap-stretcher.



A. ROBINSON.

STRAP STRETCHER. APPLICATION FILE-D JULY 13, 1916.

1 Q6Az6fi Patented Nov. 28, 1916.

WITNESSES l/V VE/V TOR MM ATTORNEYS ABRAHAM ROBINSON, OF NEW YORK,.1 I. Y.

srnarssrnnronnnt Specification of Letters Patent.

lPatcntedNov. 28, 1 2116.v

Application filed July 13, 1916. Serial No. 109,158.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABRAHAM RoBINsoN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Strap- Stretchers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to strap stretchers, particularly to those employed beneath the seats of upholstered chairs, settees, sofas, and the like, and is adapted for use in connection with the clamps shown and described in Letters Patent No. 1,188,206, issued to me on the th day of June, 1916.

My invention is fully described in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawings form a part, in which like characters refer to like parts in each of the views, and in whichz- Figure 1 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of the seat of an article of furniture, with my invention holding a strap in stretched condition, preparatoryto apply ing a' clamp, one clamp being already in place; Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and showing the position of the stretcher preparatory to strap stretching in dotted lines; and Fig. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged section showing the second clamp secured in place.

Referring to the drawings, 4 represents the frame of the seat of an article of furniture, upside down, and beneath which it is de sired to secure straps for holding the upholstery springs, or the upholstery itself, said straps being usually spaced apart and arranged at right angles, one of said straps being shown at 5.

One end of the strap 5 is first secured to one side of the frame 4 by means of a clamp 6, or the equivalent, after which the other end of the strap is attached to the other side of the frame, and I have found that some mechanical means is highly desirable if not imperative to place the strap under a desired tension, previous to attaching the free end of the strap.

My stretcher comprises a handle member having a yoke shaped member 8 pivoted thereto at 9 to opposite edges, said yoke extending well beyond the end 10 of the handle member to provide an open space between the end 10 and the cross-head 11 of the said yoke, and I provide said cross'head with a plurality of teeth 12 adapted for strap engagement, and it will be noted that the end 10 is arranged in a different horizontal plane than that of the cross-head 11, the side arms of the yoke being angularly formed to accomplish this result, as is clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

In practice, after one end of the strap 5 is attached to the frame 4, the teeth 12 of the stretcher are engaged with said strap at a material distance from the free end thereof, after which the end 10 is placed against the outer surface of the frame and the handle member 7 forced downwardly into the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3, thereby drawing the strap taut between the teeth 12 and the clamp 6 and leaving a free end 13 of the strap for ready manipulation. The end 13 may now be passed through the clamp 14 without lessening the tension upon the major portion of the strap, and the clamp 14 may then be attached to the frame 4:, after which the stretcher may be removed by merely raising the handle member to clear the frame and then disengaging the teeth 12 from the strap, this operation being repeated'for each of the straps intended to be attached to the frame.

While my stretcher is of particular value with the clamps hereinbefore mentioned, it is just as valuable where other clamping means are used, or even tacks or screws, and uses other than for furniture will probably occur, either in the identical form shown or in a form which does not depart from the spirit of the invention and comes within the scope of the appended claim.

It will be noted that, because of the plane surface of the handle end 10 and the positions of the pivots 9, the handle is held in depressed position by the tension on the strap being stretched and also by gravity, and this forms an important feature of the stretcher inasmuch as it leaves both hands of an operator free to manipulate the free enddof the strap as also the clamp 14, when use Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A stretcher for the straps on articles of furniture, comprising a handle, the inner end of which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis thereof, and a yoke-shaped frame having its connecting member formed with teeth and its side members intermediate of their ends bent downwardly and out- Wardly, said downwardly and outwardly ex that when the frame is engaged by a strap tending ends of the side members being and the handle is forced down with its end pivoted to oppositesides of the handle interinto engagement with the article of furni- 10 mediate of the ends of the handle and adj ature, the handle will be held depressed to 5 cent to the lower face thereof whereby the hold the strap stretched.

forward end of the frame will lie in the plane of the upper face of the handle so ABRAHAM ROBINSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

